Going for Golf

It’s all downhill after Austria

Velden Kostenberg

Velden, pronounced Felden, is a charming little town sitting at the western end of Lake Wörthersee, a 20km stretch of blue-green water, noted for its transparency and warmth. The ancient town of Klagenfurt is to the east, its crowded weekend bars a reminder of ski places at their jolliest.

Ten minutes’ drive above Velden, the German architect Kurt Rossknecht has ensured that Köstenberg golfers have everything it takes. From a maximum 6,588 yards, five different tee positions ask searching questions at three different levels of leafy terrain. Unusually, there are two tee placements for the ladies, probably because of the degree of difficulty, as the slope rating, even for the yellows, is 135.

Austrians are used to good warm-up facilities and you soon see why. At 2,000 feet, the first hole is a shoulder-opening 500 yards of down and up. Maybe you can close on it with three less-than-perfect shots, but a pond and tree screen to the left shield an elusively distant green, craftily bunkered on the right. It’s easy to walk away with a seven.

Each of the four par-threes requires a longish iron in challenging settings of tree, bush, bunker or biotope (protected wild flower areas, banned even to soft spikes). The 10th is one of the best holes in Austria: a par-four, stroke index six, of 400 yards, and, like a ski run, falling 70m.

The glorious green bowl is a sight to behold. Until you spot the bunkered landing area, the ditch and pond guarding the green, the greedy bunker awaiting the pull. The par-fours will test side-hill techniques all the way.

The 17th is 556 yards; the 18th 190, but offers little relief, the flag just discernible between trees, a furtive pond for any under-hit. Fortunately the Birdie restaurant will offer a dining experience of exemplary calm and a stein of good beer to set it off will never go down better.

There are plenty of hotels to choose from, none more atmospheric than the four-star-superior Seehotel Europa, an 85-room hotel (with 159 beds) overlooking its own lakeside park plum in the centre of Velden. As a founder hotel it has a 30 per cent discount at Köstenberg. Also available are beauty baths, hot-stone therapies, sauna, whirlpool and solarium.

Austria has almost as many women golfers as men, but macho males beware. It’s almost as sissy not to indulge as to take the body-pampering plunge. If it’s a chauffeur-driven package to any one of five courses, why not? German-speaking countries reckon to enjoy their breaks.

And if your putter isn’t tinkling a Lee Westwood tune, there’s always Salzburg, city of Mozart, an easy rail trip away.